What Riverside police agree to do after the fatal shooting of a suicidal man

Thalia Jimenez, left, and Hector De la Torre talk Sept. 16, 2013, of their father Hector Jimenez and his death at the hands of Riverside police in front of the Riverside home where he was shot by police a few days before.

Almost three years after police shot and killed a mentally troubled man who was armed with a knife, the Riverside Police Department agreed to several recommendations made by a commission that reviews officer-involved shootings to improve how police respond to calls involving mentally ill people.

The recommendations of the volunteer-run Community Police Review Commission called for expanding the Police Department’s current mental health program and making sure officers are properly trained and equipped to deal with mentally ill or suicidal people. At a commission meeting Tuesday night, police officials agreed with 10 of the nonbinding recommendations and disagreed with two.

Though many of the commission’s recommendations already are common practices within the department, Riverside Assistant Police Chief Chris Vicino said police were happy to get the feedback.

“We accepted 10 out of 12 recommendations; that’s a very high percentage,” Vicino said Wednesday. “I think that shows our commitment and respect to the CPRC. ... We also rejected two, which shows our independence and us relying on our own experience to run the Police Department.”

The commission ruled Aug. 26, 2015, that the 2013 shooting of 50-year-old Hector Eugene Jimenez was consistent with the Police Department’s use-of-force policy. In February, the commission delivered its recommendations.

The main one was that the Police Department expand its mental health program. Under a program established in 2015, a Riverside County Department of Mental Health team, consisting of one clinician and one mental health officer, accompanies police officers on 911 calls involving people with mental health issues when available.

Police officials believe the program has been successful and agreed in concept with the recommendation to expand it. However, Vicino said at Tuesday’s meeting, budget constraints may prevent them from obtaining the additional resources necessary. In fact, because of the county’s own budget issues, the mental health team that accompanies Riverside police may be taken back for county use.

No mental health professional was present when police responded Sept. 13, 2013, to a 911 call from Jimenez’s daughter saying Jimenez was armed and suicidal and had assaulted his wife, according to a report by the review commission.

Four police officers and one sergeant were the first to respond, and found Jimenez in his yard, a knife in his hand. The officers surrounded him while other officers removed Jimenez’s relatives from the house.

The officers commanded Jimenez to drop the knife, but he refused.

As one of the officers was preparing to possibly use a Taser, Jimenez “quickly stood up and advanced with the knife in his hand” toward two officers. Three officers fired their handguns at him and one fired beanbag rounds from a less-lethal shotgun.

After Jimenez was placed in handcuffs – common police procedure – he was pronounced dead.

One of the recommendations the Police Department did not accept was for dispatchers or first-responding officers to immediately call the county’s mental health clinicians when dealing with a mentally ill or suicidal subject.

“The creation of a policy requiring such action without discretion is highly impractical and may inappropriately place civilian employees in overly dangerous situations,” the Police Department response stated. “Additionally, Riverside County has oversight for such resources and it would be inappropriate for our police department to decide on their deployment.”

The other recommendation that the Police Department disagreed with was to deploy two supervisors to every call involving mentally ill or suicidal subjects: one to manage the scene and the other to manage the deployment of resources.

The police response said some incidents don’t require a supervisor, but officers may request one to be there. Current protocol calls for supervisors to be notified if officers are responding to “critical incidents, in particular calls involving mentally ill and suicidal subjects.”

Commission Manager Frank Hauptmann, after the meeting, said he thought the Police Department’s reasons for disagreeing with the two recommendations were feasible.

Overall, Hauptmann said, commissioners were pleased that the Police Department took their recommendations to heart.

“The police were very open to looking at these recommendations,” Hauptmann said. “I thought their response was very good.”

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